Manchester September 2008

Manchester 2008 was a GLTA tournament for the first time:

I was 3rd seed in D singles, thanks to my win in Zurich. William was the number 1 seed: congratulations to him!

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/seeds.aspx?id=19293

For matches that went into a third set a super tie-break was played instead a full set: the first player to win the tie-break until 10 points, wins.

I had a bye in the first round. My second round match was against Erik the Viking:




I lost the match....... in the super tiebreak! That means: Consolation Round for me next.

In the doubles I played with my old friend Thomas from Basel; well, he is not old, but old in the sense that we were doubles partners in Dusseldorf (click on that tournament to the right of the page).
First round, we played against the nr 2 seeds, William and Omar: yes the same William from the epic heroic final in Zurich. O, isn't it nice to play with a view over the City of Manchester Stadium:

We lost the match 2-6, 5-7 but we played well in the second set.

Time to concentrate on the Consolations. The consolaion rounds are played with a super set: first to win 8 games, wins. First round was a bye, and I played Nigel from Manchester in the quarter finals. I won 9-7 in a very tough match:

Semi finals: I played Paul Hickey from London. I won 8-4 in another tough match:

That meant: another final to play. Even though i is only Consolation, it is still a final.

I played Spanish player Rafael:

In the first set I was 0-4 down, came back to a tie-break, even had a setpoint, but lost the set still 7-6. I won the second set 6-4. Again a super-tie break had to decide: I lost 1-10, so no come-back like in Zurich:

Here are then the draws and results for D singles and D doubles:

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=19293&draw=11

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=19293&draw=12

My stats for this tournament:

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/player.aspx?id=22AEB8F9-5C41-41F7-8455-25281D4D9104&player=114

Zurich August 2008 (Masters)



The tournament in Zurich is a Masters Tournament: which means players earn double ranking points. I was not seeded for this tournament by the way: the points from the Sutton tournament did not count.
Because of rain, the first round matches were played indoors, and all preliminary matches were played in supersets: the first one to win 8 games, wins the match.

This is my first round opponent, Alex, who I played against in Sutton in 2007 as well:

Result: I won 8-2.

Quarter Final, against Erwin, who beat me in Barcelona:






Well, you can guess who won:

Result: 8-6!

Semi final match against Michel:









Result: 6-3, 6-0.

So, another final! And I played William in the final, who also happened to be my doubles' partner:



First round, which is the Quarter Final, is going well, as you see:





Result: we won 9-7. My first ever doubles' match I won!

Together with Paul and Martin, after our Semi Final match:

Result: lost 4-8.

And here are photos and videos of -yet another- final in D singles, against William:










Look at the score: yes, it is correct. I was 0-5 down in the first set.


























A little break: Tommy, Alex' boyfriend, sitting between Willam and me:




I am the WINNER of D-singles!
In a nailbiting 5 hour final, I held my nerves and made a dramatic come back, to win it in the end:
First set: 0-6, but every game went over deuce. I just forgot to make crucial points.
Second set: I had a matchpoint against at 3-5, but I came back to win it in the tie-break 9-7!
Third and final set: I was 2-5 down and I came back to win it in 7-5!

It was the longest ever final in the history of the Zurich tournament, and one of the longest finals ever in GLTA.

This is the award ceremony, especially for D-singles: by the time our final had finished, nearly everyone had gone by then.







My first ever tournament victory! Look at the beautiful trophy:


Results in D-singles:

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=20353&draw=5


Results in D doubles:

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=20353&draw=13


My stats for this tournament:

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/player.aspx?id=6B18795B-2B73-40C5-B0FB-6274169A25B5&player=10


And finally, the list of winners: scroll down. :-)

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/winners.aspx?id=20353

I want to thank everyone who supported me in this tournament.
Especially the people who made these pictures and videos: Paul, Alex, Nigel, Steve, Michel.


In October 2008, my name and my epic final appeared in the newsletter of Gaysport.ch:

Manchen Spielern gefiel das Zurich
Rainbow Open so sehr, dass sie
fast nicht mehr aufhören wollten
zu spielen. Der Final der Kategorie
D Einzel begann am Sonntagnachmittag
um 13.30 Uhr und endete
sage und schreibe 298 Minuten
später! Inzwischen war die Siegerzeremonie
vorbei (Schweizer Siege
gab es in den Kategorien Open
Einzel und Doppel, A Einzel und D
Doppel durch Eric Vienne, Ralph
Schoen/Eric Vienne, Tezcan Llinares
sowie Erwin Kuilema/Christian
Kuster). Das OK harrte aber tapfer
aus und feierte den Sieger Peter
de Bruyni aus Holland gebührend.
Dieser verkündete nach getaner
Arbeit überglücklich seinen Sieg
per Telefon nach Hause und sprintete
Richtung Tram.

London Sutton August 2008

I am seeded again! Now I am the 3rd seed in the D singles: http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/seeds.aspx?id=21940

First round match: things do not always go the way I want and yes, I do make some silly mistakes:


Video of my first round match against Sam: Thanks Sandy, for taking all the videos and photos!


Whilst I was playing my first round match, you can see Gilles in the background:



Another video of my first round match:

Result: I won 7-6 (7-1), 6-3! My first ever tie-break win on the GLTA tour.

Quarter Final match against Phil:











Result: I won 6-3, 6-2!

I look very focused in my Semi Final match, don't I?


Here are some videos of my semi-final match against Omar from Manchester:







Result: I won 6-3, 6-2! I reached my very first final!

Here are a few videos I took from Sandy's Consolation Round match against Erik:




And, believe it or not: Sandy appears on a website:

http://www.gaysports.com/page.cfm?sectionid=0&typeofsite=
photogallery-detail&id=14


This is what you have been waiting for: photos and videos of the Men's D Singles Final:

A real LTA umpire, so it really felt like a final:















Final point of the match:


The winner and runner up:


FINAL: Peter - Nicolas Lopez 1-6, 2-6. He was too good.

I am getting my first GLTA trophy:






I am so proud:



Here are my singles' results: http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=21940&draw=31


Here are some picures, taken by Gilles, of our doubles' match, against Rob and Paul. They were the nicest opponents ever. Please note our matching tops! ;-)








Here is a video from our doubles' match, taken by Gilles:



And the results of our doubles, with my friend Sandy:
 http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=21940&draw=15


My stats for this tournament:

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/player.aspx?id=1ADC93DE-B3F2-4B36-AC69-84CE9ACDEF34&player=88

Many thanks to EVERYONE who congratulated me on my achievement, especially Nellie and Vincent, who even called me from their holiday in France to say well done!

Last but not least: thanks Sandy, for those hours of practise and advise.

And here is the trophy:

Barcelona Eurogames July 2008

The Eurogames have arrived: I received this at the registration. I felt like an Olympic athlete.




It is great to see that a gay/lesbian event is being advertised in public.
This sign was put in Montjuic Park and it advertises the Opening Ceremony.
Videos of that Ceremony you can see below.


I filmed the parade of me, amongst 5000 athletes, entering the Jordi Sports Palace:




There were only 6 seeds in the D-singles. I would have been nr 8 seed if there were 8 seeded players, because the initial seeded players list, had me up there as 8th seed.

These are pictures of my second round match: it was 30C, no wind, and the court had just been watered, so the clay was v..e..r..y.. s..l..o..w to play on.
In a long tiring match, I eventually lost in 3 sets (results below).






This is my opponent, Dutch guy Erwin, who lives in Zurich.


Good old Lies taking care of me, offering me a banana.


It feels very lonely when you miss a point, and later on the match even..........



Playing GLTA tournaments means you make friends. This is Frenchman Gilles, who played in many tournaments I played in too.




The Closing Ceremony was very boring, a big contrast to the Opening Ceremony and the Eurogames themselves. On stage, you see the organising Committee, presented by 2 drag queens, who made jokes in Spanish only.



Here are a few videos Lies made of that 2nd round match:




Here are the results for D-singles:
http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=21133&draw=18

And the D doubles:
http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=21133&draw=20

My stats for this tournament:

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/player.aspx?id=D80DBAA1-B548-4C57-94D3-91285E6C984E&player=1038